Should I document my kit builds here?

[Markshan]

On an unrelated note, here is coat four of the tung oil, 24 hours after application.

It's really starting to develop the waxy feel. But still not heavy enough that I wouldn't fear buffing it out. I think one or two more coats should be heavy enough to work with.

 

[Markshan]

We will see how it sands out (hopefully tomorrow) but I think I pretty much nailed the color matching.

 

[Markshan]

So one tiny tiny bit chipped off as I sanded, and in a couple spots the green very faintly shows through, but overall I would have to call this a rousing success and say that it turned out much better than I had hoped. Big thanks to @deff for getting me thinking in this direction.

 

[deff]

Looks good!

 

[Markshan]

I worked up a couple different variations of my logo to put on the headstock but I'm still wrestling with my printer. For some reason it's printing everything in Black and White. It has to be a Windows issue because it's even doing it with emails not just with one particular program. And I know it's not an issue with the print heads because when I hit the button on the printer for a test page it prints in full color. I'm going to uninstall everything and run cleaner and that reinstall the printer and see if that makes a difference. If it doesn't then perhaps I will just install the printer onto my wife's laptop and see if I can put it in color from there.

 

[Markshan]

I exorcised the ghost from the machine. It's printing in color now but the colors are quite a bit darker on the paper than they look on the screen. I probably need to put it through a cleaning before I print my next set of tests.
Of course these will be printed on clear water slide paper, but this is just to get a rough idea of how they look.
This first one is the logo in green instead of the black that I usually use. Hopefully I can get the green a Little closer to the color of the green trim in the headstock. That's the goal.

This next one is the logo made from a picture of the body. I am very far from a Photoshop expert. My goal was to figure out how to have the picture on this one show just where the green is on the other one. But as you will see instead it just made a frame of the entire shape. Due to that fact and also due to the fact that at this scale you can hardly see that there's grain or anything I think I'm leaning toward the first one, but if I could figure out how to fix it then this might be a good idea.

With regards to the whole thing now that I see it I think the crown can actually be a little bit bigger. I also think the text can be much bigger. In fact I'm debating whether to make it bigger under the crown as it is now or if I make the crown a little bigger then put the matching text to the right of it like the way Fender does their logo.
Now that I'm this far along I am definitely very interested in other people's opinions on these issues. I'm not interested in being told that I shouldn't use the logo at all or that I should design a different logo. That part of it is writ in stone.

 

[Markshan]

Now I'm wondering if I should use the one with the grain but rotate the picture behind the shape 90° so that the grain is running with all of the other grain on the guitar. Right now it's running across all of the other grain.
I only have a couple days to decide because it's supposed to be 68° on Thursday. It might be the last chance before the spring that I have to spray the clear coat.

 

[definenredefine]

For what it's worth, I prefer the first one, and I think the orientation and size work well as is.

 

[Markshan]

For what it's worth, I prefer the first one, and I think the orientation and size work well as is.

Thanks. I appreciate you giving your opinion.

 

[deff]

For what it's worth, I prefer the first one, and I think the orientation and size work well as is.

I agree as well.

 

[Max Bogosity]

First one for me too.

 

[Mickey666]

For what it's worth, I prefer the first one, and I think the orientation and size work well as is.

Same

 

[Markshan]

Okay, what do we think of this layout? I think this is a little more Fender-esque. Compare this to the other two. The color is still off. It's very different than what is on the monitor but I still have done a cleaning or alignment. It's getting closer though, and the clear coat may brighten it up enough to make it a good match. But what do we think about this layout? I definitely like the larger "brand name" but can't decide if I like the small slogan or if I should just get rid of that part. And if you still like number one from above best please let me know that as well.

 

[Luke Kephart]

Okay, what do we think of this layout? I think this is a little more Fender-esque. Compare this to the other two. The color is still off. It's very different than what is on the monitor but I still have done a cleaning or alignment. It's getting closer though, and the clear coat may brighten it up enough to make it a good match. But what do we think about this layout? I definitely like the larger "brand name" but can't decide if I like the small slogan or if I should just get rid of that part. And if you still like number one from above best please let me know.

I like this layout, but without the slogan. I think that makes it too busy.

 

[Beej]

@Markshan back when I would do quite a bit of colour printing, I'd print off a document with a particular colour that was key for the image, then I'd adjust my monitor colour settings to match the printed copy. Although things would not always look 'right' on the monitor, I could be sure that what I was printing would look the same as it did on the monitor. There's probably a million reasons why this is not the 'right' approach when it comes to computer aided illustration, but it allowed me to get the same thing on paper that I was looking at on the screen.

 

[ardgedee]

Okay, what do we think of this layout? I think this is a little more Fender-esque. Compare this to the other two. The color is still off. It's very different than what is on the monitor but I still have done a cleaning or alignment. It's getting closer though, and the clear coat may brighten it up enough to make it a good match. But what do we think about this layout? I definitely like the larger "brand name" but can't decide if I like the small slogan or if I should just get rid of that part. And if you still like number one from above best please let me know that as well.
View attachment 5222455 View attachment 5222456 View attachment 5222457

The slogan isn't doing anything for me. I get the wordplay, it's just a bit too bumper-stickery, I guess?

 

[ardgedee]

As far as the color matching, you are probably running into the color gamut problem. The simplest (and not wholly accurate) summary is that you can't get as broad a range of colors in print as you can on the screen.

(sourced from this pretty good explanation that gets into the mechanics a bit more)

Even when the color on the screen looks like it *should* be possible, it isn't necessarily possible. (There are means for expanding the print color gamut, involving even more ink pigments, but your home printer isn't gonna do that.)

You might notice that one of the bigger gaps in the CMYK color gamut compared to RGB is... the yellow-green region! If the graphics app you're using allows you to specify CMYK colors, use that. You'll get a lot more control over this.

As an aside, a common design trick for dealing with color matching is simply to punt on it -- if you can't match the green wood tint exactly, use a color that harmonizes with it or contrasts with it. It'll look more like you picked the colors on purpose.

 

[Markshan]

@Markshan back when I would do quite a bit of colour printing, I'd print off a document with a particular colour that was key for the image, then I'd adjust my monitor colour settings to match the printed copy. Although things would not always look 'right' on the monitor, I could be sure that what I was printing would look the same as it did on the monitor. There's probably a million reasons why this is not the 'right' approach when it comes to computer aided illustration, but it allowed me to get the same thing on paper that I was looking at on the screen.

That's fair, but in the end I'm trying to match the print to the stain. I'm getting closer, how it happens is almost irrelevant to me. I'll do whatever works best.
BTW, do you have an opinion on brand name under the logo vs larger and next to it?

 

[Markshan]

The slogan isn't doing anything for me. I get the wordplay, it's just a bit too bumper-stickery, I guess?

There's a whole story behind the logo and slogan, but in this application I tend to agree with you.
BTW, do you have an opinion on brand name under the logo vs larger and next to it?

 

[Markshan]

As an aside, a common design trick for dealing with color matching is simply to punt on it -- if you can't match the green wood tint exactly, use a color that harmonizes with it or contrasts with it. It'll look more like you picked the colors on purpose.

Clever for sure. I think my saving grace here is that the stained wood has literally hundreds of shades running through it. I suspect the color I have matches at least one of them. If I ever can't match a solid color I will do that for sure.